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Sheriff Baca under fire in report on L.A. County jail violence [Video discussion]

September 7, 2012 | 2:42
pm

Sheriff Lee Baca came under criticism in a report issued Friday by investigators for a blue-ribbon commission looking into allegations of violence in the L.A. County jails.

Times deputy metro editor Matt Lait will discuss the findings in a Google+ Hangout at 3 p.m. PDT.

Baca was described as an out-of-touch boss who was “insulated…from force issues and other bad news” by his underlings. Members of his command staff, investigators said, tolerated a “code of silence” and failed to control and investigate deputies’ force against inmates. Some department leaders “had a lax attitude toward deputy aggression and discouraged deputy discipline,” the investigators said.

The panel's investigators -- who are pro bono attorneys -- also
focused criticism on Undersheriff Paul Tanaka, saying there was
"substantial evidence" that Tanaka urged deputies to be aggressive and
"work in the gray area" of law enforcement. The investigators said there
was evidence that Tanaka discouraged supervisors from investigating
alleged deputy misconduct and "vetoed" efforts to address deputy
cliques.

The commission will discuss the findings in more depth later Friday.

Baca and Tanaka could not immediately be reached for comment. But in
testimony before the commission in July, both strongly defended their
records, though Baca admitted some mistakes.

"We know we screwed up in the past," Baca told members of the county
Citizens' Commission on Jail Violence. "I'm a guy that says let's go
forward .... I just need this commission to understand the limits of
digging up dirt that doesn't have any water going into it."

While investigators found that the majority of deputies
were hard-working and ethical, they concluded that other deputies had a
“disturbing mind-set” that valued using force first rather than as a last
resort. In addition, some department leaders tolerated and even expressly
encouraged "a code of silence" in which jailers were reluctant to
report excessive force and other problems.

Last month, a federal grand jury demanded that sheriff's
officials turn over all correspondence they have had with the blue-ribbon
commission.

The subpoena suggests that federal authorities, in the
midst of a widespread investigation of the jails, are expanding their
probe to include allegations unearthed by the commission.

In
recent months, the county panel has heard testimony from current and
former sheriff's supervisors who have publicly alleged that top managers
fostered a culture of abuse inside the jails.

But many more sheriff's
employees have spoken to the commission privately. The subpoena could
inadvertently force those sheriff's officials to out themselves to the
department as informants.

In addition to seeking documents,
federal authorities have been conducting interviews with current and
former sheriff's officials, some of whom have told The Times that the
questions have gone beyond jail issues to include other allegations of
misconduct.

Federal prosecutors last year subpoenaed The Times for
information about online commenters who complained about jailer
misconduct, but that subpoena was withdrawn after the newspaper's
attorneys objected.